I started an earlier thread about failure of the rear view mirror in my new TL to dim - that's still a problem and I'll have to take it in (I'm still on my first tank of gas!).

Now there's another problem ... the radio presets 'forget' their settings after a couple days. This has happened twice. The settings (FM1, FM2, AM, XM1, XM2) are all retained for about 2 days, then they all reset to 87.7 for FM, and 001 for XM. It's as if the battery was disconnected, but that didn't happen. The clock has kept time, and seat position memories are still good.

Any idea what's happening? If the settings are retained for a couple days, how is a service engineer going to diagnose the problem?

 

i think it's a glitch in the matrix.

 

Its a sign when they changed something

p.s
i couldnt stop laughing for like 5 min

 

honestly its just something you have to deal with on a new car...most of the time. My parents got a "new Camry" in like '98, it had random problems, and in '02 they got a new Avalon, and it too had random problems. They just mass produce cars so fast, that little things are almost a guarantee. I have a '99 TL - the first of the 2nd gen. I got it from the original owner, and they said they had little things also for the first few months.

Dont worry so much, I mean you have a warranty for a reason and the car is very nice. Just get through the first few months and you will be fine. Just make sure that the service person knows you mean business. My dad took the Avalon in for the smallest thing, and finally the service people realized it and fixed everything all at once.

Good luck though

 

When I got my TL this past Monday, I preset all the stations. Then I found out my remote wasn't linked. I linked it, then the presets were all reset, as you describe. Could it be that you are linking and unlinking the remote, or going between remote one and remote two? Just a thought....

 

I agree. This is what happened to me before I linked both remote keys. I couldn't understand why settings made a few days ago disappear and then reappear -- until I figured out that there were different settings for Driver 1, Driver 2, and I think a third setting where the Driver remote is not detected at all. Once I linked the remotes, all was well.

 

One thing to check on the auto-dimming mirror is that the green 'light' is showing. There is a button under the mirror that you can depress that makes the auto-dim function work. If this is not depressed, the mirror does not auto-dim.

Joe

 

It must have been something else. The radio settings are not affected by the remote entry system.

 

uh oh. mine definitely changed. hope that doesn't signal a problem.

 

Make sure the "alt" button is not being pressed. If this is hit, it will search out & fill in all the FM & AM channels (handy on a long trip). Your orginal presets will return if the button is touched again.

 

I pressed the A.Sel button a few times and all my old presets came back! There is supposed to be a light on the panel (non-NAV) that indicates whether you're in autoselect mode or not, but apparently that light can get confused because it was not on and I still had no presets. Also, the presets didn't disappear, and if autoselect mode was actually working it shouldn't have set all the presets to FM = 87.7 and XM = 001.

I'll have to check this out, but perhaps it has something to do with using autoselect in a parking ramp or tunnel where there is no signal. Anyhow, it looks like a computer glitch and not an electronic malfunction.

 

Sounds like you may not have a problem at all - just something to get used to in a new car. The settings should not get lost unless power is interrupted, because the settings are retained by an electrical feed from the battery, not dependent on anything the driver does. In some cheaper system, a large (1 farad) capacitor keeps the "stay alive memory settings" to be retained for quite a while, and it would take many days of non driving tyhe car for that energy to be dissipated. The TL does not have such a system, so if your sympton continues, the dealer should ensure the radio/nav is getting a power feed nto switched by the ignition - if not, they will likely need to replace the system. Are any other Nav pre-sets being lost, or just the radio's?

Off-topic but related. Modern cars with all these stay alive systems: radio, driver detection, security, etc, it can take as little as a few weeks for the batt to lose enough energy that some systems will not function. If you do not drive your car for extended period, or esp if you lay it up for the winter, either disconnect and remove the batt, or buy a trickle charger like a Battery Tender.

I made a very cheap one from Rat Shack parts. All you need is a 500 milliamp 12VDC wall-wart, some mini battery clips (like jumper clips only smaller), and an inexpensive AC timer. Strip the wal-wart wires, noting the positive and negative wires (if in doubt, use a digitial VOM to check the polarity), connect the pos to the red clip, the neg to the black clip. Attach the clips to the corresponding battery terminals , and then run power to the 12VDC wal-wart for, say, 12 hours/day by the timer. This will keep the battery juiced up, with no danger of over-charging.

 

Could it be that someone pressed the FM/AM button and switched from the first 6 presets to the next 6 presets? If you only use the first 6, check to make sure it says FM1 followed by the station number. The next 6 presets will say FM2

 

RTFM ?

 

Lindros2 ... the "FM" says that there is an indicator lit when the radio is in autoselect mode, and in that mode the stations should be set to something reasonable. The indicator wasn't on, and all my presets went to FM=87.7 and XM=001 (FM1 and FM2, as wel as XM1 and XM2). The fact that something was clearly wrong but it's working now suggests that the computer encountered an unanticipated situation and got hung up, for example using autoselect when there is no signal.

 

À propos the rear-view mirror . . .

Are you sure it's not dimming? It's a really subtle effect. It's actually sort of hard to tell that it's doing it.

I had the same question about mine, and it took me a while to convince myself it was doing anything.

Stuart

 

Today I too experienced lost presets on both XM and AM/FM after I shut off the ignition. Interestingly I lost the XM in the morning and the AM/FM later in the day. I called Acura and they have not experienced this problem.

JR

 

I had to have the auto-dim rearview mirror replaced in my 2002 TL TypeS. Seemed simple enough to replace and I had no problems with it after the replacement. It was very noticeable after having used the auto-dim to tell when it was not functioning. It's a great feature and just one small reason why I love my TL.